| Outside the city walls
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| Where the darkest thickets grow
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| Returning home from foreign lands
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| We dreamt of our near homes
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| When at once we heard a-hissing
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| — was it a devil or a snake?
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| Had we heard the sounds of laughter
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| That dangerous women make?
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| Three hags our way stood staring
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| They beckoned us their way
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| We followed them along a hidden path
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| Towards their dwelling place
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| Inside a fire was burning
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| And a table had been laid
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| They offered us a strange brew
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| With a devil of a taste
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| My friend and I we had great thirst
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| We drank our cups bone dry
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| But stranger yet was the drink’s effect
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| «It's witchery!» |
| I cried
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| Eye of newt and mandrake root
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| The devil’s foot in brine
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| A fever-dream took hold of me
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| Souls danced before my eyes
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| My treachery, my wicked lusts
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| The many stolen wives
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| The souls of those whom I had wronged
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| Shared tales of my past crimes
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| Indeed, I was not all alone
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| To hear their strangled cries
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| My fellow and these sisters
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| Through this my guild surmised
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| And lo, I saw what must be done
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| For the gallows called my name
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| I’d cut its tongue under a demon sun
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| Yea, in good health I’d remain
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| In a flash I drew my dagger
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| And my fellow screamed with pain
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| Then I turned upon the sisters
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| To them I did the same
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| At once the room it filled with blood
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| And the horror of their cries
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| This night a murder banquet
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| A feast of ruined lives
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| Possessed were they with fortune’s gift
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| And yet they were surprised
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| Three sisters should have better known
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| Than to let this devil inside |